'Attack' was only an army exercise

Saluted

The spokesman said the Special Forces involved in the exercise are trained to handle civilians should there be any mishap.

He added that there had been no official complaint and no one was hurt in the exercise.

Madam Ong said that as the train pulled away, the "gunman" made a gesture as if to apologise to the passengers.

"The gunman (waved his hand in a salute) at us and nodded his head as if he was trying to thank us for our cooperation."

Mr Tan said: "It is good to conduct such simulated exercises. I will feel safer when I travel to Malaysia in future.

"But I feel that the gunman should not have pointed his gun at my head."

Public should be alerted

SHOULD the public be informed when simulated attacks are conducted?

As far as possible, yes, said Ms Ng Sue Chia, who specialises in homeland transport security at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University.

Ms Ng, 30, an associate research fellow, said that unannounced drills should perhaps be conducted only in a closed-door setting.

"The public is generally not trained to deal with crisis. It is human nature to panic and react in fear especially when one's life is perceived to be in danger."

In the KTM case, which The New Paper related to her, Ms Ng said it would have been ideal if ample alerts were given to make affected passengers aware of the nature and objectives of the exercise.

Post-trauma help

She said that while it was understandable for agencies to decide not to inform the public, the exercise should be completed as fast as possible to restore calm and offer any post-trauma assistance.

Ms Ng added: "In cases where simulation exercises might be perceived as a real threat to life, ideally the 'victim' should be a member of the emergency team."

Two years ago, when Singapore mounted its largest anti-terrorism drill, Northstar VII, the public was informed beforehand.

The massive exercise, which involved 2,000 participants and personnel from the police, Singapore Civil Defence Force and the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, tested their response in simulated attacks islandwide, including Orchard Road and HarbourFront.

When the police conducted a mock-attack exercise codenamed "Times Square" last November, they made no public announcement as the exercise was aimed at gauging public vigilance against suspicious activities.

This drill, which involved a smoking vehicle, was held at nine locations islandwide from 8am to 7pm. Only 52 people alerted the authorities about the smoking vehicle.

joycel@sph.com.sg

This article was first published in The New Paper.